The Author of Ui’saeng-jeon

The author of Ui’saeng-jeon has been known as Gwon Pil(權韠, 1569-1612) to date. Through in-depth historical research, this paper reveals that the author of Ui’saeng-jeon is not Gwon Pil but Seong Ro(成輅, 1550-1615), the author of Un’yeong-jeon. By comparing Ui’saeng-jeon with Un’yeong-jeon and Seong Ro’s anthology Seokjeonyugo(石田遺稿), this paper proves that Seong Ro is the author of Ui’saeng-jeon. This paper newly discovered one of the important authors in the history of Korean classic novels. Seong Ro, after writing Ui’saeng-jeon, seems to have written Un’yeong-jeon with greater artistic maturity. In terms of the history of human mind, it can be said that Ui’saeng-jeon inherits the legacy of Yisaenggyujang-jeon(李生窺墻傳) written by Kim Si Seup(金時習) in the early Joseon Dynasty and Wonsaengmongyu-rok(元生夢遊錄) written by Yim Je(林悌) in the late 16th century. This paper contemplates that Ui’saeng-jeon and Un’yeong-jeon display similar characteristics in certain aspects, such as the author’s unique view of life, perspective toward love, skill of ending the story and spatial setting. Based on the contemplation, this paper reaches the conclusion that the two novels were written by same person. Especially are the facts highlighted that Ui’saeng-jeon and Un’yeong-jeon contain poems that seem to have been written by a single person, the heroin ends her life by her own hand, and the lust of women is actively acknowledged. Through this paper, it was newly discovered that Seong Ro who engaged in literary writing in the early 17th century is one of the important figures in the history of Korean classic novels.